Lick the Bowl

Thursday, April 6, 2017

When a non-Jewish friend
of mine attended a Passover seder for the first time, he raved over
something he described as apple slaw. I loved that name! I told him I could
make him some and he was ecstatic, thus, I felt worthy of putting it out there for those who celebrate Passover and those who don't. It is good as a side dish, on a
cracker or just plain! This recipe is subjective to your tastes.

If you like a
lot of cinnamon, add it. If you like it
sweeter, add more honey. This year I wanted to put in pumpkin seeds, but couldn't find any that I felt were safe. The only brand I do trust (Superseedz) is not Kosher for Passover-but if that isn't an issue, then I would chop about 1/4 cup in th processor and use it in lieu of the matza farfel. Sorry no pics of these recipes-I'll get some this holiday.

Hope you enjoy and as always a happy and a safe holiday!

Ingredients

5-6 medium sized apples (I like
Gala or Fuji)

½-3/4 cup of dark grape juice (or
Concord wine)

¼ matza farfel (sold in stores
during Passover)*

2-3 teaspoons cinnamon (or more
if you like, it totally subjective to your taste buds)

1-2 tablespoons honey

¼ cup raisins

Directions

Core and grate the apples in a
medium sized bowl. (I use an old -fashioned
grater for this one)

Pour the juice or wine in and
mix.

Add the farfel to the mixture. If
mixture has too much liquid, then add a bit more farfel.

Mix in cinnamon, honey and
raisins.

Adjust according to your tastes.

*Matzah farfel is matzah broken into little bits.
If you can’t find farfel during the year, feel free to buy regular matzah and
just smash it into small pieces.

Matzah Applesauce Kugel

Ingredients

1/4 cup apple juice

1/8 cup pure maple syrup

2 TBSP potato strch

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

4-5 matzahs

A 1lb jar of applesauce (if you want it sweeter use sweetened, but I like it a little less sweet and use unsweetened)

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Here is Passover recipe #2.
It can also be made for Easter because Jews don’t have the monopoly on
carrots!

This dish is so light it should be called carrot flan, but mousse made a better pun. It has a creamy texture and should probably be labeled as
dessert, but it’s a great side dish.
This recipe underwent many changes over the years to meet certain
dietary limitations and I wanted to clean it up a little. It is egg, nut, dairy and gluten free (if you use gluten
free cake meal) and truly so easy.

During the year for other holidays, I use tofu in lieu of
eggs, and it provides an even airier consistency, but many of us don’t eat soy
on Passover so I went back to the kitchen.

I also replaced the margarine, in order to make it low sodium for my
FIL-nobody even knew! So now it’s egg, nut, dairy, AND low sodium-but it still tastes great.

Let me know your thoughts.
The picture is courtesy of the Washington Post when it was featured in
the paper a few years back.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb carrots ( I use baby carrots-no peeling)

½ cup sweetened applesauce (if using unsweetened then you
may want to up the sugar from ¼-1/2 cup)

1/3 cup oil

1 tbsp OJ or apple juice

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp potato starch

2 tbsp cake meal

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Boil carrots until very soft-allow to cool.

Process carrots in food processor with oil

Combine remaining ingredients until nice and smooth with no
carrot chunks

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan-lightly sprinkle dash of
cinnamon and nutmeg

Bake 45-50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes
out clean

Cool completely and cover with aluminum.

NON-PASSOVER RECIPE

1 lb carrots-cooked and cooled

½ block of firm silken tofu (I use mori-nu)

½ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 tbsp unbleached flour (you can use gluten free)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350

Grease 8x8 pan

Boil carrots until very soft-allow to cool.

Process carrots in food processor with tofu

Combine remaining ingredients until nice and smooth with no
carrot or tofu chunks

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan-lightly sprinkle dash of
cinnamon and nutmeg

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

As promised here is the first of some of my most treasured
allergy free recipes for Passover. I
hope you enjoy them and use them as part of your tradition for a happy and safe
holiday.

Chocolate Cake (adapted
from Nava Atlas’s Chocolate Cake recipe)

This cake is so good, it’s a shame I only make it on
Passover. It’s very fudgy and rich, and trust me you can’t eat too much of it
at once and yet, the whole thing disappears in minutes. Try it for yourself. It’s
super easy and it's egg, nut, dairy and can be made gluten free with gluten free cake meal.

This picture is two cakes stacked with raspberry jam in the
middle and a ganache topping-it makes a great birthday cake if your birthday
lands on Passover.

Ingredients-for one cake

5/8 cup cake meal (1/2 cup + 1/8)

¼ cup+ 1 ½ tbsp. Potato starch

3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder (you can use the Kosher for Passover one)

½ tsp. salt

¼ cup oil

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup warm water

Directions

Combine all dry ingredients

Make a well-pour in 1 cup warm water, oil, vinegar and
vanilla

Stir until moistened then beat vigorously with a whisk until
batter is smooth

Pour into a round 8 or 9 inch pan

Bake for 30 min. Let cool.

Chocolate Ganache
(This is from Isa Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes)

Ingredients

¼ cup creamer (I used the Pareve coffee creamer)

4 oz cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Bring creamer to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan.
Immediately remove from heat and add the chocolate and syrup. Use a rubber
heatproof spatula to mix the chocolate until it is fully melted and smooth. Set
aside a room temp till ready to use.

Decorate with raspberries-pictured here are raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

As allergy moms, we have to learn how to re-feed our
families from scratch. Ten years ago,
this was not a simple task as we did not have the explosive array of allergy
free items we have today. However, just
because we have more extensive choices, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s
healthy. In fact, I have noticed that
the preponderance of allergy items is snack food, cake mixes, cookies, etc…
Moreover, I found it curious that many food allergy parents such as myself,
were actually gaining weight, probably because we were always baking for our
kiddos so they wouldn’t feel left out at school, family events, birthday
parties and playdates. While I felt good
about being able to provide these tasty alternatives, my fitness and nutrition
goals were less than stellar and in need of an overhaul.

As a trainer and nutrition consultant with a lot of
experience in limited diets, I am constantly trying to create healthy alternatives
that won’t break the caloric bank, provide nutrition, and are kid and adult
approved. These breakfast cookies do
just that. They are chock full of whole grain, fruit, oats, seeds, healthy fat,
and my beloved dark chocolate. They are
great with a yogurt for brekkie, or a midday snack, not to mention a great post
workout carbohydrate. As with any food, no matter how healthy, moderation is
always key!!

Lightly Sweetened Brekkie Cookies-Makes approximately 24

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil* (you can use canola if you don’t have
coconut, but honestly the coconut oil kicks the taste up a notch).

2 cups oatmeal (whole rolled oats. You can use minute oats
but they wont be as hearty. If using gluten free oats, I suggest you either use
minute oats or pulse the rolled oats a few times as they can be a bit chewy in
my experience)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheet with parchment

Mash banana with a fork.

Melt 1/3 cup coconut oil and place in large bowl

Mix coconut oil, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and banana and
whisk until smooth and the color of caramel.

Coconut oil- In addition to being the darling of the oils
these days, it lends a light buttery taste to baked goods. Be sure you measure
it out after it’s been melted in order to get the right amount. If you don’t
like coconut oil, good ole canola will work too.

Sugar-At the end of the day-sugar is sugar and one has to
use it wisely. The nice thing about
these cookies, however, is that even though
they have some sugar, it is far less than what is in the average breakfast
cereals. Also, there is a nice amount of fiber in these cookies, which means
that whatever sugar from your cookie won’t send you or your child into a sugar
high/crash spiral.

Here's a trick-when you sprinkle a little sugar on the tops, that's the first thing your tongue registers as sweet, so you can lower the overall amount that goes into the cookies.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

I am the first to
admit, I hate aging. My feet are achy as
soon as they hit the floor in the morning, my back sporadically hurts, and my
knees sound like a bowl of rice krispies. Throw in some hot flashes for good
measure, thinning eyebrows, and more grays than I’d like to admit. Yep, sounds
like 50 is off to a great start. Nevertheless, when I backtrack to the shadow
of my former, younger self, I realize that 50 definitely has its merits.

The Twenties

I use to roll my eyes
at women in the salon who were getting their hair colored and I adamantly swore
I would go natural when the time came. Of course, when the grays started to
come a little more fast and furious than I would have liked, I went straight to
the colorist. Clearly, my twenty-year
old self had no idea what lay ahead. While the twenties were fun, I always felt
like something bigger yet inaccessable lay ahead. Being on the cusp
of creating a life for myself was exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I worried about career choices and independence. Still plagued with PRTD (post residual teen drama) I obsessed about what ifs,
why don’t they like me, why aren’t they calling me which would be the equivalent of why didn't they text me back in today's scenario.

The Thirties

My thirty self didn’t
really think about age.Thirties were the beginning of my life, marriage, new
house, and I was way too absorbed in processing these huge changes.

The Forties

Ahhh, the 40’s. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t love my forties
so much. Most of the physical changes I complain about started back then and
took nearly a decade to resolve. I also didn’t like that I was on the other end
of the spectrum at the OB/GYN- emphasis on the GYN because OB didn’t apply
anymore. My kids were getting older, my face was stating to show signs of aging and if my night cream could talk, it would say, “what the hell
happened?” Emotionally, forties is a crossroad for many. Some have mid- life
crises and I am no different. My writing was stalled, I had no career, my kids
didn’t need me as much and I knew that college was looming in a few short
years. Fifty was creeping up and always taunting me in the background like an invisible forcefield. I didn’t want to be fifty. The number itself represented my life being
half over, glass half empty. I desperately wanted to accomplish something big
before AARP invited me to the party and my daughter went away to college.

The Fifties

Here I am. Fifty isn’t so bad. In fact, I would venture to
say, it started out way better than the decade before. Whoever coined the
phrase 50 is the new 40 was probably a 30 something bemoaning the fact that
they too will one day be 50 and needed to justify the aging process.I know I clung to adages like that one. I came to 50 kicking and screaming, but now
that I’m here, I’m actually okay. In the first few months of being 50, I
published my children’s book and started a new career in fitness and nutrition.
Fifty is truly the crossroads, where many decide to change for the second act
of their lives.

Fifty represents clarity. I look at my daughter and all the
teen angst, insecurity and drama that goes along with it. I see myself at that
age, and wish she would believe me when I tell her that at some point, none of
it makes a difference. I am the ghost of the future telling her, in real time,
but I suppose she has to follow her own chronological journey. But if she took
one thing away from my experiences, I wish it to be the fact that we don’t have
time to worry about who doesn’t like us and that we should be busy loving
the people who love us. There’s a 50ism for ya.

WHY CAN'T 50 JUST BE THE NEW 50?

Here’s the thing. Why can’t 50 just be the new 50? Truthfully,
the 50-year old’s of today, are very different than the generation of 50’s
before us. It’s true. I am a very different 50 than my mother was. There is
more available to us now than ever before. We have access to so much abundance
regarding healthier food, information, safer hair color and way better
moisturizers. We choose differently in terms of careers, life choices etc. So, why can’t the age of 50 be the new
standard? Why do we have to quantify it by trying to be the people we were in
our 40’s?

I’m not glossing over the fact that aging isn’t easy. Fifty
represents menopause, colonoscopies, shingles, cholesterol, osteoporosis, and
the depressing list goes on. But more often than not, I feel like the same fun
person I was in high school but with better fashion sense and wisdom, so I try
to focus on that, and not what my bloodwork reveals (event though I get mad
every time).

We all want to feel
relevant but there is a reality that no matter how good one feels about
oneself, there are going to be times where we are aged out of a job, or the
checkout kid calls you “mam!”UGH, I hate the mam, but what should they call you? “Hey sexy, you want me to bag those apples
for you?” That’s even worse. So, mam it is. We are a youth obsessed society and admittedly,
when I see an upcoming, youthful actress- I sardonically think, “well one day
you will be old.” I know, totally immature, but c’mon you think it too.

So, the point is, it’s okay to want to look better, we all
do. There is no judgement if you color your hair, or get Botox, if it makes you
feel better, then so be it. But, at the
end of the day, your chronological age is only going up and nothing can change
that. We can complain, even vent, but
wishing for the days of yore as opposed to making our present the best it can
be is soooo 40’s.

Monday, February 13, 2017

No matter if you celebrate Valentines day or not, these desserts won't break your caloric bank and have a nice antioxidant punch from the berries and the dark chocolate. They are great anytime and are dairy,egg, gluten and nut free.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Here is a cookie that is not only safe for those with food allergies, but you won't break the caloric bank with them either (especially if you don't ice them). No matter what holiday you celebrate, or if you are just in a mood for a really good sugar cookie, try this one out first.

Here's what you won't get in these cookies!

Loads of sugar

No egg

No butter

Here's what you get

No guilt holiday

Healthier cookie

Great taste

Makes approximately 18 cookies

Ingredients

1/3 cup canola oil

½ cup Florida Natural Crystals

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1-cup whole- wheat pastry flour

1-cup unbleached flour

1 TBSP milk of your choice (I use So Delicious Coconut)

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 ½- tsp. pure vanilla

2-3 drops lemon extract

Directions

·Combine oil, sugar and applesauce. You can use a hand mixer or a whisk until it looks creamy and color is uniform.

·

·Add flour, milk, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and
vanilla and mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated (you don’t have to
use a mixer for this).

·Roll dough into a disk (it may be a bit oily)
and wrap it in plastic wrap. I use a Ziploc
bag that is cut in half. The dough
doesn’t seem to stick as much to the bag.

·Place in freezer for 1 hour or more.

·Set oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheets
w/parchment paper.

·Remove from freezer and place it on the half Ziploc
bag. Sprinkle both sides w/flour and
place second half of Ziploc over the dough.

·Flour a rolling pin and roll out dough to ¼ “ thickness. Turn the dough clockwise to get all
sides. It is so much easier to do this
with a Ziploc bag. I find it works much
better than plastic wrap or parchment, especially when you have to “peel” the
dough sometimes.

·Use cookie cutters to shape dough (smaller
cookie cutters are best) and place on parchment paper.

·Bake for 6-8 minutes depending on your oven.

·Remove from oven and let cookies cool for about
1-2 minutes

·Slide off baking sheets and place on cooling
rack.

A Few Notes for Great Cookies

·You can double this recipe to make 3 dozen
however; I find making one batch at a time yields better dough. Too much in one bowl is very oily.

·This is a light, delicious, crispy cookie (make
sure you roll it thin) even with the whole-wheat pastry flour. It is slightly grayer in color (not the full
golden color you get with regular flour).
It is slightly grainier, but undetectable to most. For different results, feel free to play with
the flour ratios.

·This is very sticky dough. Use flour to help with rolling and work
fast. As the dough warms up it becomes challenging to work with, so put it in the fridge to firm up for a few minutes.

·Decorating is the fun part, but I do not like
all those artificial sugars and gels.
Here are some other suggestions…

The most popular cookie so far was the
sandwich cookie. Place two alike cookies
flat bottoms up. Fill one cookie with a dark-chocolate
ganache, or all natural fruit preserves and press the cookies together. The preserve-filled whole-wheat pastry cookie
was the voted favorite.

·You can freeze the cookies and any leftover
dough.

·If you have any scraps that aren’t big enough
for a cookie cutter…take a small medicine cup and make small circles in the
leftover dough. It’s the perfect shape
and you can make mini-filled cookies.

About Me

Four years ago, my son was diagnosed with food allergies and our world was turned upside down. Over the years, food allergies have become a mission, a labor of love and as a result, I began my fledgling career as a writer, writing about food allergies, recipes and nutrition. I have been published in Atlanta Parent, Washington Family Magazine, NPR, Washington Post, Baltimore Jewish Times, Jewish Week, and Moment magazine. I have also written for various websites such as TheJewishHostess.com and GreenDivaMom.com I was recently featured as a Guest blogger on EatCleanDiet.com and was Community Blogger of the Month in Martha Stewart's Whole Living Magazine. I am also being featured in Eat Clean Magazine this coming June, 2012